MONTHLY GLOBAL TROPICAL CYCLONE SUMMARY
AUGUST, 2006
First Installment
SPECIAL NOTE: The August summary is being issued in three installments.
This first one covers the Atlantic basin and contains an extra feature.
The second will cover the Northeast Pacific basin while the third will
cover the Northwest Pacific and North Indian Ocean basins.
(For general comments about the nature of these summaries, as well as
information on how to download the tabular cyclone track files, see
the Author's Note at the end of this summary.)
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Almost two years ago I began including links to
track graphics prepared by John Diebolt of Tucson, Arizona, and archived
on his tropical cyclone website. A few months back John experienced a
disk crash which resulted in a error. He had to request assistance from
the programmer who had written the map-generation software, but so far
has not been able to get the problem solved. As a convenience to users,
I've also recently been including links to the individual tabular tracks,
prepared by myself, which John had archived on his website. Now, due to
family issues, John has not had time to place the tracks for the August
cyclones on the website. I have checked the websites listed at the end
of the summaries and found that the entire August track file has been
archived on two of them. The links are:
http://australiasevereweather.com/cyclones/2007/trak0608.htm
http://www.typhoon2000.ph/garyp_mgtcs/aug06tks.txt
*************************************************************************
AUGUST HIGHLIGHTS
--> Atlantic rather quiet--tropical storm affects Haiti, Cuba, Florida
and U. S. Eastern Seaboard
--> Eastern North Pacific very active--one hurricane adversely affects
the Baja California Peninsula
--> Extremely long-lived Central and Western Pacific major hurricane/
super typhoon strikes both Johnston and Wake Islands
--> Western North Pacific very active--China experiences very rare
strike by a destructive super typhoon
--> Several weak depressions in Bay of Bengal
*************************************************************************
!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EXTRA FEATURE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ADDENDUM TO JULY SUMMARY
System South of Nova Scotia on 17 July
--------------------------------------
An interesting-looking system south of Nova Scotia on 17 July may
possibly have been a tropical or subtropical storm. The system was
small, had a tight LLCC, anticyclonic outflow, and Buoy 44137 reported
sustained gale-force winds and 5 to 6-metre significant wave heights.
I do not currently have any more information available on this system,
but Eric Blake of TPC/NHC has indicated that it will be reviewed for
possible inclusion as an unnamed storm. The main issues to be determined
are whether or not it was warm-core and if it was attached to a frontal
boundary.
*************************************************************************
ACTIVITY BY BASINS
ATLANTIC (ATL) - North Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico
Activity for August: 2 tropical storms
1 hurricane
Sources of Information
----------------------
Most of the information presented below was obtained from the
various tropical cyclone products issued by the Tropical Prediction
Center/National Hurricane Center (TPC/NHC) in Miami, Florida:
discussions, public advisories, forecast/advisories, tropical weather
outlooks, special tropical disturbance statements, etc. Some
additional information may have been gleaned from the monthly
summaries prepared by the hurricane specialists and available on
TPC/NHC's website. All references to sustained winds imply a
1-minute averaging period unless otherwise noted.
Atlantic Tropical Activity for August
-------------------------------------
Following are some statistics for the Atlantic basin during the month
of August:
August Average
Parameter 2006 1950 - 2005
--------------------------------------------------------
Named Storms (NS) 3 2.8
Hurricanes (H) 1 1.6
Intense Hurricanes (IH) 0 0.6
Named Storm Days (NSD) 12.75 12.1
Hurricane Days (HD) 0.50 5.7
Intense Hurricane Days (IHD) 0.00 1.3
As can be seen, the month of August, 2006, was well below average in
all but the NS and NSD categories. The overall net tropical cyclone
activity (utilizing all six parameters) was only 47% of the amount of
tropical cyclone activity normally seen in August. By way of contrast,
the Northeast Pacific basin was much above normal in August, 2006, with
the net activity for that basin almost 2.5 times the average. The month
was the quietest August in the Atlantic basin since 2002 when three NS
developed with none reaching hurricane intensity.
Activity began early in the month when Tropical Storm Chris blossomed
near the Leeward Islands. Even though Chris became well-organized and
approached hurricane intensity, unfavorable shear and dry air led to the
storm's dissipation as it moved into the southeastern Bahamas. During
the fourth week of the month a well-organized and vigorous tropical wave
exited the African coast and prompted the issuance of tropical storm
warnings for the Cape Verde Islands. The system, however, slipped on
south of the islands before being upgraded to Tropical Storm Debby.
After its rather distinguished beginning, however, Debby moved west-
northwestward through a less-than-optimum environment and never
intensified beyond 45 kts, eventually dissipating between Bermuda and
the Azores.
Late in the month a tropical wave ahead of Debby began to strengthen
as it approached the Lesser Antilles and became Tropical Storm Ernesto
in the eastern Caribbean Sea. Ernesto briefly became the season's first
hurricane while situated near southwestern Haiti, but interaction with
the mountainous terrain led to the storm's weakening. Ernesto moved
northwestward across eastern Cuba, then turned northward and moved over
portions of the Florida Peninsula. The cyclone subsequently moved back
over the Atlantic and accelerated north-northeastward and intensified,
reaching the North Carolina coast near Cape Fear just shy of hurricane
intensity. Ernesto's remnants moved northward across Virginia, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, New York and finally into Ontario, causing fairly
significant rainfall totals in many areas. Reports follow on all three
of the named storms.
One other weather system in August warrants mentioning. By mid-day on
13 August a non-tropical low pressure system located about 280 nm east
of the northeastern Florida coast was producing a small area of showers
and thunderstorms. The next day a new circulation center seemed to be
developing just north of the Bahamas while the old center to the north-
east was becoming less organized. By mid-day on the 15th a surface
LOW had become better organized about 260 nm southeast of the North and
South Carolina coasts. While convection was minimal at the time,
environmental conditions were forecast to become more favorable for
development. Convection increased on the morning of 16 August, the
center then being located about 110 nm south of the Carolina coastline.
An Air Force reconnaissance plane flew a mission into the system during
the afternoon and found peak surface winds of only 20 kts in a few
isolated thunderstorms. While the potential existed for a tropical
depression to form, upper-level winds were forecast to become
increasingly unfavorable over the next few days. On the 17th the weak
LOW began to drift westward and later southwestward. By the early
morning of 18 August the LOW was centered about 85 nm east-northeast of
Jacksonville, Florida, and remained poorly organized. Early on the
19th, while located only about 50 nm east of Jacksonville, the LOW
appeared to be a little better organized, but conditions were still not
conducive for strengthening. The LOW continued to drift westward toward
the northeastern Florida coast through the 19th as it weakened. The
final mention by TPC/NHC was in the afternoon Tropical Weather Outlook
issued at 5:30 PM EDT on 19 August.
TROPICAL STORM CHRIS
(TC-03)
1 - 5 August
----------------------------------------
Tropical Storm Chris was a short-lived, though briefly well-organized,
tropical cyclone which flared up near the Leeward Islands very early in
August. The origins of Chris lay with a westward-moving tropical wave
which left the African coast in late July. It was first mentioned in a
Tropical Weather Outlook issued by TPC/NHC on the afternoon of 27 July
when it was located about 480 nm southwest of the Cape Verde Islands.
Vertical shear inhibited development for several days, but as the system
approached the Lesser Antilles on 31 July conditions became somewhat more
favorable for tropical cyclogenesis. The first advisory on Tropical
Depression 03 was issued at 0300 UTC on 1 August, placing the center
about 140 nm east-southeast of Antigua. Reports from a French buoy
during the afternoon indicated that a weak circulation was associated
with the tropical wave and the system was maintaining enough deep
convection to be classified as a tropical depression. However, due to
some westerly shear resulting from strong easterlies in the lower
troposphere, the presence of a large upper-level LOW just east of the
Bahamas, and a very dry air mass, the depression was not forecast to
reach tropical storm intensity but rather to dissipate within three
days.
During the night the depression slowed its forward speed and deep
convection increased in both depth and organization around the LLCC.
Also, both TAFB and SAB estimated the intensity at 35 kts, and two
consecutive AMSU intensity estimates were at 35-36 kts. Therefore, on
the second advisory TD-03 was upgraded to Tropical Storm Chris at 0900
UTC. During the afternoon the first aerial reconnaissance was flown
into Chris, and the Hurricane Hunters found a very small core of strong
winds with a CP of 1007 mb--rather low considering the high environmental
pressures. A peak FLW of 53 kts was found just southeast of the center,
and the intensity was bumped up to 40 kts in the 01/2100 UTC advisory.
However, shortly after the issuance of that advisory, the Hurricane
Hunters found a 64-kt FLW along with a 1003-mb pressure, so a special
advisory was issued upping the winds to 50 kts. Since some of the models
were forecasting a decrease in the vertical shear, Chris was forecast
to increase to hurricane intensity in three days.
Chris strengthened slightly and reached its peak intensity of 55 kts
around 1200 UTC on 2 August when centered approximately 55 nm north of
the island of St. Martin and moving west-northwestward at about 9 kts.
The latest FLW measured by a reconnaissance aircraft was 67 kts and both
TAFB and SAB had assigned Dvorak ratings of T3.5. By late on the 2nd
Chris had turned to more of a westerly heading and the MSW had dropped
slightly to 50 kts. Early on the 3rd it was becoming apparent that
Chris was weakening in a hurry. The combination of low and mid-level
dry air and shear associated with an upper-level cyclone which had
dropped southward into Chris was taking its toll on the tropical storm.
By 03/1200 UTC Chris was only a minimal tropical storm 250 nm east-
southeast of Grand Turk Island, and was devoid of any deep convection
within a 75-nm radius of the center. The forecast called for Chris
to weaken into a tropical depression within 12 hours, but the cyclone
stubbornly hung on to its tropical storm status for another 24 hours.
Finally, at 1200 UTC on 4 August, Chris was downgraded to a depression
located about 15 nm south of Grand Turk and moving toward the west at
11 kts. The final advisory, issued at 05/0900 UTC, placed only a weak
20-kt center about 130 nm east of Camaguey, Cuba. The system was
becoming a broad low-pressure area devoid of thunderstorm activity.
It was felt that there was a slight chance that the system might undergo
some modest re-intensification later in the Gulf of Mexico, but this
failed to materialize.
Damage caused by Tropical Storm Chris was generally minor and mainly
consisted of local flooding. Several inches of rain fell over many of
the islands in the Lesser and Greater Antilles, leading to some homes
being flooded and causing some crop losses. Fortunately, there were no
casualties associated with the storm.
The online Wikipedia report on Chris, from which some of the above
information was taken, is available at the following URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Chris_%282006%29
(Report written by Gary Padgett)
TROPICAL STORM DEBBY
(TC-04)
21 - 27 August
----------------------------------------
The precursor of Tropical Storm Debby was a very well-organized and
vigorous tropical wave which moved off the African coast on 20 August.
Shower and thunderstorm activity decreased some on the 21st, but the
low-pressure area associated with the wave remained well-organized and
advisories were initiated on Tropical Depression 04 at 2100 UTC that
afternoon. The depression was centered about 220 nm southeast of the
southernmost Cape Verde Islands and moving west-northwestward at 10 kts.
Because the projected path of the system took it through or very near
the Cape Verdes and intensification was forecast, a tropical storm
warning was issued for the islands. However, the system passed over
100 nm south of the Cape Verdes on the 22nd so the effects there were
limited to some rainfall with no damage reported.
As the cyclone passed to the south of the Cape Verdes, deep central
convection continued to increase and Tropical Storm Debby was christened
at 0300 UTC on 23 August. The upgrade was based on satellite intensity
estimates of 35 kts from SAB, TAFB and AFWA, and also several AMSU
estimates of tropical storm intensity. In addition, a 22/2027 UTC
QuikScat overpass showed several 30-35 kt uncontaminated wind vectors
near the circulation center. Debby at this time was centered about
260 nm west of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands, scooting off to
the west-northwest at 16 kts. Debby rather quickly reached an initial
peak intensity of 45 kts at 23/1200 UTC, but shortly thereafter
encountered some dry air which led to the convection diminishing and the
storm weakening some. By the 24th the convection had redeveloped near
the center and banding features had redeveloped as well, so the cyclone
again reached an intensity of 45 kts at 24/1200 UTC as it continued
west-northwestward across the eastern Atlantic Ocean.
Early on the 25th the storm began to weaken due to increasing
southerly shear, and by 25/1200 UTC had become a minimal tropical storm.
Further weakening ensued and Debby was downgraded to a tropical
depression at 1500 UTC on 26 August. During its dissipating stages
the system turned more or less due northward. TPC/NHC issued its
final advisory on Tropical Depression Debby at 2100 UTC on the 27th,
placing the center approximately 700 nm west-southwest of the Azores.
No damage or casualties are known to have resulted from Tropical
Storm Debby.
The online Wikipedia report on Debby may be accessed at the following
URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Debby_%282006%29
(Report written by Gary Padgett)
HURRICANE ERNESTO
(TC-05)
24 August - 3 September
-------------------------------------------
A. Storm Origins
----------------
A tropical wave left the African coast ahead of the one which
produced Tropical Storm Debby but remained insignificant until the
22nd when it was first mentioned in a Tropical Weather Outlook issued
by TPC/NHC. The system gradually began to show signs of increased
organization as it approached the Lesser Antilles. A reconnaissance
aircraft during the afternoon of the 24th was able to close off a
surface circulation and advisories were begun on Tropical Depression 05
at 2100 UTC that day. The center of the new depression was located
about 135 nm southwest of the island of Martinique and moving quickly
westward at 19 kts. Earlier in the afternoon Barbados had reported
sustained winds of 33 kts, but the direction of those winds suggested
a convective outflow or downburst not representative of the cyclone's
circulation. TD-05 was initially forecast to increase to tropical
storm intensity soon, but this was delayed for about 24 hours due to
the storm's passage through an environment of moderate shear.
B. Synoptic History
-------------------
Tropical Storm Ernesto was christened at 2100 UTC on 25 August when
located about 260 nm south-southwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico. An
Air Force reconnaissance aircraft had found a peak FLW of 48 kts at
300 meters about 40 nm northeast of the center along with a CP of
1004 mb. Vertical shear continued to hamper Ernesto's intensification
as it plodded west-northwestward across the central Caribbean Sea,
gradually slowing its forward speed. The shear began to abate some
on the 27th and the cyclone began to strengthen, reaching hurricane
intensity at 1200 UTC when located about 100 nm southwest of Port-au-
Prince, Haiti, or about 185 nm south-southeast of Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba. The MSW had been bumped up to 60 kts in the 27/0900 UTC advisory
based on the formation of an eye and maximum FLWs of 78 kts at 850 mb
in the northeast quadrant. The forecast associated with this particular
advisory called for a Category 3 hurricane in the eastern Gulf of Mexico
in 96 hours, but it was the previous advisory's forecast (27/0300 UTC)
which really had had a sobering effect among residents and emergency
managers in that it called for a Category 3 hurricane to be advancing
toward the central Gulf Coast in 5 days--areas which had been devastated
by Katrina exactly one year earlier. Fortunately, this scenario failed
to materialize.
Even as Ernesto was upgraded to a hurricane, its appearance in
satellite imagery was becoming ragged. The upper-level LOW which had
been responsible for the vertical shear plaguing Ernesto had retreated
westward and shear had significantly diminished, so it appears that
involvement with the rugged terrain of southwestern Haiti was the main
factor which had resulted in Ernesto's weakening. The cyclone moved
northwestward, crossing the extreme southwestern portion of Haiti, then
continuing northwestward toward the southern Cuban coastline. The
cyclone had weakened to 45 kts during its encounter with Haiti and did
not intensify while back over water in the north-central Caribbean.
Ernesto moved onshore in Cuba around 1200 UTC on 28 August about 30 nm
west of Guantanamo Bay, moving northwestward near 9 kts. The center of
the storm spent almost 24 hours over eastern Cuba, emerging into the
Florida Straits by 29/1200 UTC. The tenuous system managed to hang onto
minimal tropical storm intensity while over the island and had
re-intensified to 40 kts by 1200 UTC.
With Ernesto over the very warm Florida Straits, intensification
seemed very likely and for a time the storm did become somewhat more
organized-looking in radar and satellite imagery, but by the afternoon
of the 29th its presentation had become a bit ragged-looking. It was
suggested that one negative factor might have been some modest easterly
shear which showed up in water vapor images. Ernesto's track became
increasingly northerly as it neared the southern tip of the Florida
Peninsula. The storm's center made landfall about 13 nm east of Flamingo
or about 45 nm south-southwest of Miami around 0600 UTC on 30 August with
a MSW of 40 kts. The storm began to weaken after moving inland and was
downgraded to a tropical depression at 30/1500 UTC while passing about
85 km (55 miles) west-southwest of West Palm Beach. By 0300 UTC on the
31st Ernesto was emerging into the Atlantic near Cape Canaveral, and at
0600 UTC was re-upgraded to tropical storm status just off the Florida
East Coast about 205 nm south-southwest of Charleston, South Carolina.
The cyclone's forward motion had picked up a bit to 13 kts, and a turn
toward the north-northeast at a faster speed was forecast.
By 1500 UTC on 31 August Ernesto's intensity had increased to 50 kts
and the cyclone was moving north-northeastward at 15 kts. Atmospheric
conditions were favorable for strengthening, and as Ernesto passed over
the warm Gulf Stream waters, its MSW increased to 60 kts before the
center made landfall just west of Cape Fear, North Carolina, around
0600 UTC on 1 September. As a precaution, hurricane watches were issued
for portions of the Carolina coastlines. Following landfall Ernesto
began to quickly weaken and was downgraded to a tropical depression at
1500 UTC on 1 September while located about 130 km (80 miles) west-
southwest of Norfolk, Virginia, and responsibility for issuing advisories
was shifted to the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center. The weakening
tropical cyclone moved northward across North Carolina into Virginia and
had evolved into an extratropical gale by 0300 UTC on 2 September near
West Point, Virginia. The system continued moving northward, still
producing gale-force winds over the Atlantic through 02/2100 UTC. The
final HPC advisory, issued at 03/0300 UTC, placed the center about 80 km
(50 miles) east-southeast of State College, Pennsylvania. The remnants
continued northward, moving into New York later on the 3rd and finally
dissipating in southeast Ontario on the 4th as it was absorbed into a
developing occluded cyclone in Maine.
C. Storm Impact
---------------
Information in this section is largely taken from the excellent
online Wikipedia report on Hurricane Ernesto. More detailed information
may be found by consulting this report, available at the following URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Ernesto_%282006%29
Hurricane Ernesto was responsible for bringing heavy rains to all the
Greater Antilles except Jamaica. In Puerto Rico 119.1 mm of rain fell
in two days at the Sabana Grande ALERT station. In the Dominican
Republic heavy rainfall caused river flooding and landslides, leading
to damage to some houses and also downing trees. Over 1600 people were
evacuated near Santo Domingo.
Some portions of Haiti experienced over 300 mm of rainfall in
association with Ernesto, causing flooding which destroyed homes and
ultimately was responsible for 5 fatalities in the nation. In Cuba
Guantanamo reported over 75 mm of rainfall in four hours. In that nation
more than 700,000 persons were evacuated but no deaths, injuries nor
major damage were reported.
Ernesto brought heavy rains to several areas of the U. S. In Florida
the highest storm total measured was 221 mm at South Golden Gate Estates
in Collier. The heavy rainfall was responsible for auto accidents which
left at least two persons dead. Several thousand residents experienced
power outages for a short time.
In South Carolina the highest rainfall total related to Ernesto was
146 mm at Blythewood on Cedar Creek. In North Carolina prodigious
rains fell in many areas as moisture from Ernesto interacted with a
frontal boundary, but the maximum total of 371 mm recorded near
Wrightsville Beach was associated directly with the tropical cyclone
and most of this fell within a 24-hour period. One traffic fatality
in North Carolina was blamed on Ernesto, and crop damage in the state
was estimated to total $76 million.
Wakefield, Virginia, recorded 258 mm of rainfall during Ernesto's
passage with total damage in the state estimated at over $104 million.
Two people were killed in Gloucester County when high winds caused a
large tree to fall on a modular home. More than 600,000 people from
North Carolina to Connecticut experienced power outages resulting from
Ernesto. Tragically, one woman died from carbon monoxide poisoning
from a portable electrical generator being used during the power
outage. The combination of a large high pressure system and the
weakening tropical cyclone produced a large area of gale-force winds
which affected much of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern coastal areas
of the U. S. These gales caused high tides which swamped St. George
Island in St. Mary's County, Maryland. Rains generally between 50
and 100 mm fell across Pennsylvania and New York during the last stages
of Ernesto.
More information on Ernesto's rainfall may be found at the following
URL:
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/ernesto2006.html
(Report written by Gary Padgett)
*************************************************************************
NORTHEAST PACIFIC (NEP) - North Pacific Ocean East of Longitude 180
Activity for August: 2 tropical storms
2 hurricanes
3 major hurricanes **
** - one of these formed in Central North Pacific and became a Western
Pacific super typhoon
NOTE!!! The Northeast Pacific basin will be covered in the second
installment of the August summary.
*************************************************************************
NORTHWEST PACIFIC (NWP) - North Pacific Ocean West of Longitude 180
Activity for August: 3 tropical depressions **
3 tropical storms
2 typhoons ++
2 super typhoons &&
** - two of these were classified as weak depressions by JMA only
++ - one of these formed in late July and continued into early August
&& - one of these was a visitor from the Central North Pacific and
continued into early September
NOTE!!! The Northwest Pacific basin will be covered in the third
installment of the August summary.
*************************************************************************
NORTH INDIAN OCEAN (NIO) - Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea
Activity for August: 3 depressions
1 deep depression
NOTE!!! The North Indian Ocean basin will be covered in the third
installment of the August summary.
*************************************************************************
SOUTHWEST INDIAN OCEAN (SWI) - South Indian Ocean West of Longitude 90E
Activity for August: No tropical cyclones
*************************************************************************
NORTHWEST AUSTRALIA/SOUTHEAST INDIAN OCEAN (AUW) - From 90E to 135E
Activity for August: No tropical cyclones
*************************************************************************
NORTHEAST AUSTRALIA/CORAL SEA (AUE) - From 135E to 160E
Activity for August: No tropical cyclones
*************************************************************************
SOUTH PACIFIC (SPA) - South Pacific Ocean East of Longitude 160E
Activity for August: No tropical cyclones
*************************************************************************
SPECIAL FEATURE - SOURCES OF TROPICAL CYCLONE INFORMATION
The purpose of this section is to list some websites where many and
varied types of tropical cyclone information are archived. Many readers
will know about these already, but for the benefit of those who don't,
I wanted to include them.
(1) Aircraft Reconnaissance Information
---------------------------------------
Various types of messages from reconnaissance aircraft may be
retrieved from the following FTP site:
ftp://ftp.nhc.noaa.gov/pub/products/nhc/recon/
Information regarding how to interpret the coded reconnaissance
messages may be found at the following URL:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/reconlist.shtml
Links are also included to websites with further information about the
U. S. Air Force 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron and the NOAA Air-
craft Operations Center.
(2) Archived Advisories
-----------------------
All the advisory products (public advisories, forecast/advisories,
strike probabilities, discussions, various graphics) issued by TPC/NHC
are archived on TPC's website. For the current year (using 2004 as an
example), the archived products can be found at:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2004/index.shtml
Links to tropical products archives for earlier years are available at
the following URL:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastall.shtml
JTWC warnings for past storms are archived on the NRL Monterry website:
http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tc_pages/tc_home.html
On the NRL site, the link to past years can be found in the upper left
corner of the screen.
I am not aware at the moment of any other TCWC which archives all
its tropical cyclone warning/advisory products for public access, but
if I learn of any, I will add them to this list.
(3) Satellite Imagery
---------------------
Satellite images of tropical cyclones in various sensor bands are
available on the NRL Monterrey and University of Wisconsin websites,
courtesy of Jeff Hawkins and Chris Velden and their associates. The
links are:
http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tc_pages/tc_home.html
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic/tropic.html
On the NRL site, the link to past years can be found in the upper left
corner of the screen. For the CIMSS site, a link to data archives is
located in the lower left portion of the screen.
Additional tropical satellite imagery, along with looping ability for
composite microwave imagery for the Western Hemisphere north of the
equator, can be found at:
(1) For the Eastern North Pacific:
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/trop-epac.html
(2) For the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea:
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/trop-atl.html
I'm sure there are other sites with available imagery available, and
as I learn of them, I will add the links to this list.
*************************************************************************
EXTRA FEATURE
In order to shorten the amount of typing in preparing the narrative
material, I have been in the habit of freely using abbreviations and
acronyms. I have tried to define most of these with the first usage
in a given summary, but I may have missed one now and then. Most of
these are probably understood by a majority of readers but perhaps a
few aren't clear to some. To remedy this I developed a Glossary of
Abbreviations and Acronyms which I first included in the August, 1998
summary. I don't normally include the Glossary in most months in
order to help keep them from being too long. If anyone would like to
receive a copy of the Glossary, please e-mail me and I'll be happy
to send them a copy.
*************************************************************************
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This summary should be considered a very preliminary
overview of the tropical cyclones that occur in each month. The cyclone
tracks (provided separately) will generally be based upon operational
warnings issued by the various tropical cyclone warning centers. The
information contained therein may differ somewhat from the tracking and
intensity information obtained from a "best-track" file which is based
on a detailed post-seasonal analysis of all available data. Information
on where to find official "best-track" files from the various warning
centers will be passed along from time to time.
The track files are not being sent via e-mail. They can be retrieved
from the archive sites listed below. (Note: I do have a limited e-mail
distribution list for the track files. If anyone wishes to receive
these via e-mail, please send me a message.)
Both the summaries and the track files are standard text files
created in DOS editor. Download to disk and use a viewer such as
Notepad or DOS editor to view the files.
The first summary in this series covered the month of October,
1997. Back issues can be obtained from the following websites
(courtesy of Michael Bath, Michael V. Padua, Michael Pitt, Chris
Landsea, and John Diebolt):
http://australiasevereweather.com/cyclones/
http://www.typhoon2000.ph <http://www.typhoon2000.ph/>
http://mpittweather.com <http://mpittweather.com/>
ftp://ftp.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/pub/landsea/padgett/
http://www.tropicalcyclone2005.com/
Another website where much information about tropical cyclones may
be found is the website for the UK Meteorological Office. Their site
contains a lot of statistical information about tropical cyclones
globally on a monthly basis. The URL is:
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/tropicalcyclone
TROPICAL CYCLONE REPORTS AVAILABLE
JTWC now has available on its website the Annual Tropical Cyclone
Report (ATCR) for 2004 (2003-2004 season for the Southern Hemisphere).
ATCRs for earlier years are available also.
The URL is: http://199.10.200.33/jtwc.html
Also, TPC/NHC has available on its webpage nice "technicolor"
tracking charts for the 2005 Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific
tropical cyclones; also, storm reports for all the 2005 Atlantic
and Eastern North Pacific cyclones are now available, as well as
track charts and reports on storms from earlier years.
The URL is: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov <http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/>
A special thanks to Michael Bath of McLeans Ridges, New South Wales,
Australia, for assisting me with proofreading the summaries.
PREPARED BY
Gary Padgett
E-mail: garyp@alaweb.com
Phone: 334-222-5327
Kevin Boyle (Northwest Pacific)
E-mail: newchapelobservatory@btinternet.com
Simon Clarke (Northeast Australia/Coral Sea, South Pacific)
E-mail: scla4255@bigpond.net.au
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